EATING HEALTHY ON A BUGET
I’m standing in the Sprouts aisle looking at a raw, organic coconut oil and I think “$14.99 is kind of expensive for this... but it’s exactly what I’ve been looking for, it’s organic and I can use it for my smoothies and for the DIY toothpaste”. In my workshops, I say that we should invest in our health now, that high-quality costs more (in anything, not just food), that what we put in our body should not be cheap, etc. and I still have to convince myself that paying more is worth it. So I get the hesitation and thinking that we’re saving money for buying cheap products, but we’re not. What I really want is to eat healthily and at the same time be mindful of my finances. Here’s the criteria I use to but high quality, healthy foods, even if you’re on a budget.
Buy Local
Go to your farmers market to support local businesses and save some money. You’ll find high-quality produce and other products at a good price. Plus, fruits, veggies, honey and other foods grown locally will have specific nutrients that people living in that region need. Isn’t nature amazing?
Buy Some Organic
You don’t have to buy everything organic. A good criterion is this: buy organic fruits and veggies that you put directly in your mouth; buy “traditionally grown” (meaning with pesticides) fruits and veggies that you peel. For example, but organic grapes, apples and spinach and non-organic bananas, avocados and pineapple.
Buy in Bulk Aisle
The packaging of a product accounts for 15% of its price. Many supermarkets now have a bulk aisle where you can get rice, oats, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, peanut butter, sweets and so much more. Shop in this section as much as possible. You get extra points if you bring your own containers to refill instead of using plastic bags.
Buy In Season
Fruits and veggies that are in-season are less expensive than fruits and veggies out of season, which makes sense, right? The problem is that we don’t even know when fruits and veggies grow, but that’s why we have Google. Some fruits and veggies that grow in the fall are pomegranates, apples, sweet potato, pumpkin (I think we could all guess this one), pears, mushrooms, and apricots.
Use Money You Save To Buy a Pricy Item
With the money you save from buying in bulk and in-season, buy something you consider pricey but worth it. My pricy items are $6 free-range, organic eggs, and hormone-free and free-range chicken.
Look at Price and Nutritional Value
When you’re looking at food, compare the price but also the nutritional value. For example, if you’re shopping for snacks you might see that pastries are less expensive than blueberries. However, if you look at the nutritional value, blueberries are nutritious and pastries are full of sugar and empty calories. They’re non-comparable. You could compare blueberries to apples and pastries to muffins. This way, you can make a decision that’s based not only on price but also on nutritional value.
Avoid Impulsive Buys
I think that many times we exceed our budget because of impulsive buys. Here are some of the things I do to avoid it:
+ Make a list of the items you need and, most importantly, stick to the list.
+ Never go hungry to the supermarket. You can have great intentions, but hunger will override them, so make sure you have a snack before you shop.
+ A great side effect of taking your own bags to go to the supermarket is that you'll have limited space, so you don’t buy things you don’t need.
+ Use the self-checkout if possible, to avoid that last aisle full of temptations.
+ Pay with cash. The pain receptors of your brain activate when you pay with cash, and paying with your card doesn’t have this same effect (which is why it’s SO easy to swipe).
Over to you: which one of these strategies will you be using next time you go to the supermarket? Leave and comment below! If you want to learn how to use food to give you energy get the FREE guide Nutrition For Energy by subscribing to my email list above.
